The Dramatic Demise of 'American Idol'
Today in show business news: Not many people watched the American Idol finale, The Voice is still going strong, and Pete Campbell takes to the stage.
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Well, the numbers are in and they are not good. Last night's American Idol season 12 finale earned the show's lowest finale numbers ever, by a lot. Entertainment Weekly reports: "Idol had 14.3 million viewers and a 3.6 rating, according to Nielsen’s final overnight numbers. That’s off a steep 44 percent from last year." Yikes! A 44 percent drop is huge, and surprising even for this lackluster season. The show has been plagued by ratings problems all season, forcing us to wonder if the great Idol gravy train might finally be pulling out of the station. There will definitely be big overhauls next year, with a whole new judges panel, but will that help any? The real problem has been time and the contestants. If it does go away, are we ready for an Idol-less world? It could be coming in a year or two. Prepare yeself. Meanwhile, The Office's series finale did pretty well, earning the highest ratings of the season. Good to go out on a high note. Idol should take a lesson from them and build a time machine and go back in time and end the show after Carrie Underwood won. It's the sensible thing to do. [Entertainment Weekly]
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NBC's The Voice is chugging along comfortably, though. They've just announced that original judges Xtina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green will be returning for the fall cycle, with Shakira and Usher filling in again in the spring. Yeah, two more cycles in the next year, which is a lot. It's almost as if NBC is desperate to squeeze every last dime out of its only big hit. I'm sure it will work perfectly! No one's going to get sick of it, no sir. Also, has anyone actually ever won that show? And if so, who are they? Who are these people who have supposedly won The Voice? [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Perhaps hoping to win nerdy English major ladies to his cause, Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser will be playing Mr. Darcy in a stage adaptation of Pride & Prejudice at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis this summer. Is he really a Mr. Darcy type? He certainly can be rude and uptight, but in a bratty way. I mean, technically no one except Colin Firth is legally allowed to play Mr. Darcy, but there are better options out there. Or other plays that Vincent Kartheiser could have been in. But, oh well. It's happening. Enjoy it, Minnesota! [Entertainment Weekly]
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The Amazon Studios show audition experiment is coming to an end. They're starting to make pickups and informing those that haven't made the cut. One big "no: was Zombieland, which caused the creator to chastise the movie's fans, saying "I’ll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard Zombieland fans. You guys successfully hated it out of existence.” Yikes. Amazon has said yes to Alpha House, the wan political comedy from Gary Trudeau starring John Goodman, and Betas, an annoying thing about Silicon Valley. The painful Huffington Post musical satire (yes) Browsers also didn't make it. Poor Bebe Neuwirth. [Deadline]
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Here is a longer trailer for the final season of Dexter. From the looks of it, we're going to be dealing with a lot of drunk, angry Deb. As opposed to just angry Deb. I'm excited! Last season was mostly a brutal success, ending both insanely and inevitably. Come to us, sweet Dexter! Tell us the dark ending to your dark and sometimes kinda silly but usually pretty entertaining if nothing else tale.
